D. Keith Johnson, Chief Executive Officeer

Mr. Johnson is an experienced executive who has managed financial service companies through several high growth and downturn cycles. His combination of cycle management and hands-on experience in accounting, capital markets and securitizations, operations, residential and commercial lending makes him a unique leadership talent. Previously, Mr. Johnson was a senior executive of Bank United, one of the original Southwest Plan institutions created from the Texas S&L crisis. From 1986 to 2000, Mr. Johnson served in a variety of roles - from CFO and Managing Director of Capital Markets to President of Mortgage Operations. From 1988 to 2000, Bank United grew from approximately $4 to $21 billion in assets. In 2000, Bank United was sold to Washington Mutual ("WaMu"), which recruited Mr. Johnson to be the Chief Operating Officer of their newly formed Commercial Lending Segment. In 2006, Mr. Johnson was recruited to become President and Chief Operating Officer of Clayton Holdings, Inc., where he was responsible for the strategic direction, management and operations of the businesses that comprise Clayton. And in 2008, Mr. Johnson sold Clayton to a Connecticut based private equity firm and acted as a consultant advisor to Clayton until July 2009.

Bruce Nelson, Chief Operating Officer

As COO, Bruce Nelson directs the platform operations of The Situs Companies and is actively involved in many aspects of the company’s asset management, due diligence, loan underwriting and consulting services in North America. He has direct responsibility for all Situs Asset Management activities with particular focus on all special servicing. Additionally, Mr. Nelson has credit oversight related to highly structured loans, preferred equity investments, B-piece analysis and loans involving repurchase lines of credit. Mr. Nelson has extensive experience in special servicing, including specialty property types such as restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations, residential subdivisions and golf courses. Prior to joining Situs, Mr. Nelson worked as a regional manager for Parallel Capital where he was responsible for all underwriting, due diligence and loan originations and closings in the southern United States.

Mr. Nelson also worked previously as the president of Ranger Realty Group, a diversified real estate company that offered a complete spectrum of workout and lending services to the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and other investors handling troubled portfolios. Such services included asset management, property management, property analysis, leasing, brokerage, construction and development services. Mr. Nelson has also served as an advisor to water districts, housing agencies and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He earned a B.S. in finance from the University of Houston and passed the CPA exam in 1993.

Hugo Raworth, Managing Director

Hugo Raworth leads the European loan surveillance and due diligence group and manages the London and Copenhagen offices for the Situs Companies.  He has over 15 years European Commercial Real Estate experience working in both Real Estate practices and Banks.  He has been with Situs since 2005 working initially on new loan origination underwriting and due diligence for Credit Suisse.  More recently he set up the loan surveillance team in London and has also managed several large loan diligence instructions and CMBS advisory mandates.  These include both the large loan trades undertaken by CS in 2009 – 2010, approx £1 billion of UK originated CMBS for a major private equity group, valuing the real estate loans held by a major Irish bank and several subordinated debt acquisitions for LNR.

Prior to joining Situs, Hugo worked at HSBC Private Bank where he serviced the Real Estate needs of the Banks wealthy clientele.  This included brokering suitable investment opportunities, arranging leverage and setting up and managing SPVs for the assets. Prior to HSBC, Hugo gained a broad range of real estate experience working at CBRE and Donaldsons Chartered Surveyors as an asset manager, appraiser and real estate investment broker.  Hugo is a Chartered Surveyor, Registered Valuer and an RICS APC Assessor.  He also has a Masters in Property Valuation and Law from Cass Business School in London

Ryan Smith, Managing Director

Ryan currently leads the European debt advisory and real estate consulting group and manages the Dublin and London offices for The Situs Companies. He is the Project Director for the Situs/UHY NAMA loan valuation team and was the Project Director for commercial real estate loan analysis for the Central Bank of Ireland on the recent PCAR tests. Ryan has advised on over €6bn of European commercial real estate loan trades in the last 3 years.

He was previously Vice President with Credit Suisse in European loan origination and high yield syndication.  Prior to that, Ryan worked for CBRE in Paris providing cross border European real estate valuation and investment appraisal advice.

Volker Oehls, Director Asset Management Europe

Volker Oehls manages the German office at the Situs Companies. He has broad experience in NPL portfolio underwritings and acquisitions, property valuations and sales advisory both for direct real estate and real estate debt. He is responsible for the management of multiple NPL portfolios with a UPB of approximately €750 million.

Prior to joining Situs,Volker served as Associate Director with Capmark Asset Management in Frankfurt,was head of Research at CBRE, Frankfurt and Head of Industrial at Dr. Luebke, a German and nationwide acting brokerage company.

Volker is a member of the Board of Directors at BKS, the German NPL trade organisation. He is also responsible for the liaison between the asset management department and ratings agencies including Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. Volker received his Diploma in Applied Geography and Economics from the University of Trier.

Angela Hitzman, Managing Director - Global Human Resources

As Managing Director – Global Human Resources, Angela Hitzman is responsible for the company’s global human resources operations, including life cycle human capital processes and procedures, compensation planning, payroll, health and welfare benefits structure,  performance management,  recruiting/ hiring and retention, and career development initiatives. Ms. Hitzman has more than 30 years experience internationally in establishing human resources and staffing teams, supporting employees and business leaders, developing benefits programs, conflict resolutions and organizational development. 

Prior to joining Situs, Ms. Hitzman was the EVP of Human Resources with a Fortune 100 company responsible for life cycle human capital management for 38,000 employees in more than 350 locations.  Ms. Hitzman has worked in Europe, North America and the Far East and holds an MBA and a BS from the University of London. She is also a GPHR, a member of ACIR and a Certified Birkman Trainer; and has MIPM, CIPD and MIEC Certifications from Europe.